Communal dreaming has its uses both on and off the battlefield. How big could this scale? Can two Psions use it to communicate if they were say, located on two different planets in the same system?
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They don't know yet - something that means one of those two is going to be sent in one of the Loveboats to find out.
I think you mean telepathy rather than communal dreaming?
I think you mean telepathy rather than communal dreaming?
Hmm, curious. In my mind, I think I've lumped the two concepts together as a single idea. I haven't considered depicting telepathy and communal dreams as seperate powers.
I only know of two stories where communal dreaming is used as a story point, the old Gatekeeper books by Anthony Horowitz and my own Song of the Solitaire, which hardly counts. (for now) So the examples I can draw from are very limited.
Well telepathy to me is the ability to understand, project and intercept the thoughts of others.
And communal dreaming is those involved having a shared dream; not just a common dream where one has the dream at one night and another a different night, but where they're all having the same dream at the same time.
I suppose communal dreaming is a subset of telepathy though.
And communal dreaming is those involved having a shared dream; not just a common dream where one has the dream at one night and another a different night, but where they're all having the same dream at the same time.
I suppose communal dreaming is a subset of telepathy though.
Test, And Result
"Test, And Result"
10th Hoggagha, 9 (2188)
Vorosh
10th Hoggagha, 9 (2188)
Vorosh
I woke with my tentacles still entwined with other Lukhuinites; it was speculated that touch might help, so I had the various categories of communal testers sleep in two groups to test that hypothesis.
It's been a few hours now - enough time to catalogue all our experiences. The data is interesting.
Our null hypothesis - no shared dreams - has been shown to be flawed in Lukhuinites. There were many who had no shared dreams of course, including myself. But others did have shared dreams, generally correlating with how close they were together - the randomly selected non-touching singles group had the least shared dreams, with none.
The randomly selected touching groups had one success, and the couple in question are now having lunch together.
The family groups had better outcomes, who themselves had the most common shared dreams in the touching groups.
Spouses had the highest rate of success.
In particular, our two Scryers had exactly the same shared dreams, as was expected given they already have a telepathic bond. Another interesting couple, Avosh and Nodess, were newly-weds with no history of magic in both her and his families, who I asked to come as I thought they're experience could potentially be quite intriguing. They shared one dream.
Overall?
Of roughly twelve hundred Lukhuinites, we had fifty three experience at least one shared dream. I'm happy with that. Good consolation prize.
Dozens of factors still to investigate of course, but it's a starting point for further research; I've already sent a report in to Rivkah with a request for a Loveboat so that we can test long distance separations; if telepathic communication is instant across space, then that has massive implications for how we structure future missions and naval communications.
Wait, does that mean romantic relationships increase the chances of a shared dream? Does potential for those increase it? How is that calculated?
Vorosh would say that the data so far indicates the first, but there still needs to be more research for the second. Third they can only speculate so far.
Perhaps it's not "romantic relationships" specifically that raise the possibility of shared dreaming. Maybe an intense emotional connection of any type will do. I highly doubt two people feeling a mutual sense of intense rivalry are going to share dreams, but I'll stand by the rest of my hypothesis until Vorosh gets more data.
Quite right.
If anything, a really passionate rivalry might cause such a link - we are defined by our enemies as much as our friends, our heroes by their villains.
Vorosh also has some constraints. She can't run this as the research project she'd like to, because Life2.0 is defined by their enemy in MSI, and militarily her battlemages ultimately exist to hunt down and destroy any enemy too powerful for Life2.0's conventional forces.
Testing intense rivals - as worthwhile as gathering the data is - could have complications in combat effectiveness both positively and negatively, and from Vorosh's perspective testing spouses is more valuable militarily as the colony's approach is it is better for both partners to stay home, or, die in battle together - that's Naomi's mentality, for good or ill.
If anything, a really passionate rivalry might cause such a link - we are defined by our enemies as much as our friends, our heroes by their villains.
Vorosh also has some constraints. She can't run this as the research project she'd like to, because Life2.0 is defined by their enemy in MSI, and militarily her battlemages ultimately exist to hunt down and destroy any enemy too powerful for Life2.0's conventional forces.
Testing intense rivals - as worthwhile as gathering the data is - could have complications in combat effectiveness both positively and negatively, and from Vorosh's perspective testing spouses is more valuable militarily as the colony's approach is it is better for both partners to stay home, or, die in battle together - that's Naomi's mentality, for good or ill.
Rivkah's Diary, 15th Hoggagha, 9 (2188)
Rivkah's Diary
15th Hoggagha, 9 (2188)
"She will win whose army is animated by the same spirit."
15th Hoggagha, 9 (2188)
"She will win whose army is animated by the same spirit."
That's what Mum taught me. Knowing Mum, it was probably a quote. I could find it in the Archives, but I'm working my way through reading biographies of famous Human war leaders, and I'll find who said it originally.
I've been mulling it over.
Mum is getting used to being pregnant. We video-called last night for the first time; Li's been working on the transition away from radio broadcasting to televisual broadcasting for over a year now as our communications infrastructure improves and is better able to support higher bandwidth demand technologies. We've ha video for a while obviously, but until now it's been confined to military purposes.
I've come to understand that CEO and Arch-Imperatrix must be the same person until MSI are defeated. I've been working my way backwards through Human history, starting with their most up to date warfare and then working backwards through their technological progression back to when they fought like Xenaya.
At the moment, I'm on Clausewitz. Next is Napoleon. Mum thinks highly of Napoleon, so it should be interesting.
Clausewitz...
Definitely feels like he codified the maxims of European war; reading the histories of WW2 and WW1 feels like an extension of his rationale. Although I have the sense that such extrapolations would have been exhilarating and terrifying to him, his works feel like he hadn't seen the logical conclusion of war as a means to an goal for a state that WW1 and WW2 saw.
But, his technique of juxtaposing different perspectives is interesting, and it makes me think.
What spirit will animate my armies? What should my methodology of war look like?
I don't know yet. I suppose it's part of why I'm reading through the hundreds of generals and admirals on my reading list, to come up with my own path.
It's nice to see some of Earth's legacy...
Speaking of war, what war tactics does MSI use? Roman?
At the moment, Life 2.0's armies are animated by a spirit of hatred for MSI. We'll see how long that lasts... and if something else can replace it before MSI is defeated. Alliances united by hatred rarely outlive the object of that hatred.
Speaking of war, what war tactics does MSI use? Roman?
At the moment, Life 2.0's armies are animated by a spirit of hatred for MSI. We'll see how long that lasts... and if something else can replace it before MSI is defeated. Alliances united by hatred rarely outlive the object of that hatred.
Standard Stellaris AI tactics.
It will last long enough for love of what they've built together to take it's place.
It will last long enough for love of what they've built together to take it's place.
Recipients: Rivkah Of Unity, Alexandra, Naomi, Thando, Ykrett
UV Laser Development Report: Rhizome Of Ebony
15th Hoggagha, 9
Good Evening. As requested, this is an executive summary of our Ultra-Violet laser weapon development program.
We have been working on laser weapons for quite some time now. We have iterated concepts for UV lasers based on a 6GW input/195MW output 198nm laser, with a small and large laser.
The good news is, we have working near-UV lasers with energy outputs of up to 15.7GW per square metre at 10 mega-metres; this is a materials limit based on the heat management system, as the spectacularly low efficiency of lasers suitable for combat use means such massive radiators only a station could reasonably mount a bigger laser. That said, if you are interested in unreasonably large radiators, we do have calculated how much radiator size and mass would be needed. And unfortunately, the system will only fit on a 56m pusher-plate or bigger owing to the size of aperture needed to retain sufficient focus at extreme range.
The weapon is also very vulnerable - an aperture this large is obviously a large target, and armouring the turret is extremely high cost in mass and resources and energy requirements for moving the turret to rotate, which all contribute to a weak mounting platform easily destroyed by enemy lasers.
This led to evaluation of a much smaller aperture and turret. With an intensity of 101MW per square metre at 10 Mm, it is orders of magnitude less powerful at extreme range, and sufficiently low mass that it can be mounted on a 12m pusher plate (radiator size remains extreme however, and therefore the ship will need chemical rocket assistance to make orbit from Unity)
While performance at extreme range is much lower, we can mount much stronger armour, which means that the turret is able to withstand much more damage. And, it is also made feasible to add multiple turret mounts for redundancy. In practice, this means that targeting the radiators offers quicker disabling of the weapon system.
Our continued development remains into making Excalibur-derived X-ray lasers work, and in continuing to reduce the wavelength of our Near-UV lasers. I do strongly recommend accepting higher radiator mass - this laser operates at two degrees below the maximum safe usage temperature of various critical components, and a higher safety margin would be a good idea.
The format change indicates that they've moved past typewriters and are now on typing up on computers, with this being an equivalent of e-mail.
UV Laser Development Report: Rhizome Of Ebony
15th Hoggagha, 9
Good Evening. As requested, this is an executive summary of our Ultra-Violet laser weapon development program.
We have been working on laser weapons for quite some time now. We have iterated concepts for UV lasers based on a 6GW input/195MW output 198nm laser, with a small and large laser.
The good news is, we have working near-UV lasers with energy outputs of up to 15.7GW per square metre at 10 mega-metres; this is a materials limit based on the heat management system, as the spectacularly low efficiency of lasers suitable for combat use means such massive radiators only a station could reasonably mount a bigger laser. That said, if you are interested in unreasonably large radiators, we do have calculated how much radiator size and mass would be needed. And unfortunately, the system will only fit on a 56m pusher-plate or bigger owing to the size of aperture needed to retain sufficient focus at extreme range.
The weapon is also very vulnerable - an aperture this large is obviously a large target, and armouring the turret is extremely high cost in mass and resources and energy requirements for moving the turret to rotate, which all contribute to a weak mounting platform easily destroyed by enemy lasers.
This led to evaluation of a much smaller aperture and turret. With an intensity of 101MW per square metre at 10 Mm, it is orders of magnitude less powerful at extreme range, and sufficiently low mass that it can be mounted on a 12m pusher plate (radiator size remains extreme however, and therefore the ship will need chemical rocket assistance to make orbit from Unity)
While performance at extreme range is much lower, we can mount much stronger armour, which means that the turret is able to withstand much more damage. And, it is also made feasible to add multiple turret mounts for redundancy. In practice, this means that targeting the radiators offers quicker disabling of the weapon system.
Our continued development remains into making Excalibur-derived X-ray lasers work, and in continuing to reduce the wavelength of our Near-UV lasers. I do strongly recommend accepting higher radiator mass - this laser operates at two degrees below the maximum safe usage temperature of various critical components, and a higher safety margin would be a good idea.
The format change indicates that they've moved past typewriters and are now on typing up on computers, with this being an equivalent of e-mail.
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I can see that Naomi is being kept in the loop. Is she still out-of-power from Rivkah's bloodless coup back in August?
Yes. She's two months pregnant and secluded with Buri until the baby is born.
I'm debating how long until Ruki Of Unity makes his introduction; one of the necessary tweaks is faster cognitive development and better bodily control, and therefore at two months old or so he'll be able to do what a typical two year old can do.
I'm debating how long until Ruki Of Unity makes his introduction; one of the necessary tweaks is faster cognitive development and better bodily control, and therefore at two months old or so he'll be able to do what a typical two year old can do.
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Well, those lasers are interesting. I wonder if they'll ever be used on a planet... or just a large object in space in general.
Anatomy Of An Orion
"Anatomy Of An Orion"
A Lecture Delivered By Estrili Sakati at the Hortensus' Folly University, Spacecraft Engineering Undergraduate Course
A Lecture Delivered By Estrili Sakati at the Hortensus' Folly University, Spacecraft Engineering Undergraduate Course
Professor Edvard Ivan: "Now class, we are especially privileged to host Estrili Sakati, EngD for today. So, with no further delay, I give you our guest speaker."
ES: "Thank you. Let us begin. When we consider the means available to us of traversing the immense distances of space, what options do we have? You, the Baat Vootan, you had a limb up first."
Deena: "Fundamentally, we are restricted by the need to expel mass to generate an exchange of momentum."
ES: "Correct. Unless we see massive advances in theoretical physics, we rely on various forms of rockets. What are the two characteristics of rocket performance that matter most?"
Deena: "Thrust and Exhaust Velocity."
ES: "Correct. Now, what is the fundamental problem of conventional rockets?"
Richard Hoffmann: "You can have high thrust, or, high exhaust velocity."
ES: "Correct. A simple chemical reaction rocket is capable of very high thrust, but delta-v is essentially limited to 12-15km/s operations. The inverse, such as electric ion propulsions, have practically negligible thrust, but extremely high exhaust velocities. What options are there that combine both?"
Deena: "On what we have, Orion."
Richard: "But also open-cycle nuclear thermal rockets, fusion rockets, antimatter rockets could."
ES: "True. So let's look at these systems. Who can tell me the fundamental point that enables these systems to function effectively?"
Deena: "Reaction heat transferring to propellant."
ES: "And what is Orion's advantage over the others?"
Deena: "We can build it."
ES: "I had in mind that Orion isn't trying to contain the energy inside a rocket chamber, but instead has the heat generated externally to the rocket in the detonation of a nuclear device. This has several advantages. But yes, nuclear devices are a well understood technology that several races on our Colony have been using for centuries - the others we have had much less success in developing. As a result, when you finish your degrees, you will be working on Orion drives. So, we shall now consider the actual workings of an Orion drive. Our systems consist of Uranium-233 devices that detonate inside a Uranium-238 lining that has an opening to a volume of Beryllium Oxide, topped with a layer of Tungsten, inside a magnetic casing. Who can tell me why we use these?"
Editor's note - ES writes out numerous equations describing the mathematics involved on the display.
Deena: "In order, cheapest fissile suitable for a bomb, redirects X-rays before being destroyed in the blast, absorbs the X-rays and re-emits as heat, gets superheated and launched at the pusher plate."
ES: "In essence. That describes one of the three critical components. The other two are the pusher-plate and the damper system. The pusher-plate is quite simple; it's a large plate that is flat on one side and slightly trimmed to curve on the other, with a hole in the middle to allow the shaped charge through, and lubrication sprays that distribute an ablative layer of oil. Which itself is accelerated by an electromagnetic launcher. The damper system exists to convert the extremely strong impulse of the focused cone of Tungsten hitting the pusher-plate into useful acceleration for a crewed ship, and reduces acceleration from the initial burst affecting the pusher-plate from thousands of standard gravities down to one standard gravity for the ship as a whole. It does so using three impact moderating assemblies. The pusher-plate is directly supported by an reinforced gas-bag that turns the shock of the impact into a hard shove into the second element of the springs and supporting pistons. Unlike the original Orion drives, where the suspension was only used for moderating the impact without active control, we connect con-rod assemblies inside the springs to a crankshaft attached to an electric motor drawing power from the reactor to enable us to control the movement of the pusher-plate. This enables us to stop or slow the pusher-plate more quickly in the event of a misfired pulse and minimise potential damage, and pre-compress the suspension in preparation for beginning acceleration periods, allowing us to not need initial pulses after the initial launch from Unity."
Deena: "How could we continue to improve them?"
ES: "My generation has built the initial setting - it is up to yours to build upon what we gave you."
A planet, moon or asteroid environment would have advantages in being able to use the material of the body as a heat sink (although that only delays the problem of waste heat) and would have greater capability to mount more of them, with the ability to armour up the larger turret more easily.
Atmospheric usage would be undesirable due to diffraction and the harmful effects of ultraviolet radiation, although they aren't as bad for diffraction as X-ray lasers are.
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